Why is Authenticity Important In Rock Music?

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Throughout the decades the face of rock music has changed drastically because of a series of small events that have occurred for example, the song that saw the birth of early rock music The Comets hit Rocket 66 a 50's classic that endeared audiences with its atypical crunchy guitar tone, this was brought about by Ike Turner who dropped his guitar amplifier outside of the recording studio causing the amplifier to break and distort the sound this small accident caused Rock and Rock if we fast forward around 20 years and you have a young man called Tony Iommi working in a steel factory in Birmingham when he loses concentration severing the tips of two fingers causing him to de-tune his guitar to make it playable for his injured left hand and this spawned the birth of Heavy Metal music or is this all just a music purists point of view? or is there more to this than the cute stories and our perception that all of these outcomes could have been predetermined by previous events? could it be that we as listeners, consumers and human beings have manipulated the evolution of rock music to suit our personal tastes to feed our hunger to feel at one with the music? which leads me to authenticity. A few aspects of the criteria for music to be deemed authentic can be broken down into two main categories these are what sub genre of rock music is it and how is it related to its social class and the common behaviour within that class, for a quick example if The Sex Pistols famed for their bond with the working class turned round only to sport a posh upper/middle class accent would they have been billed as the working class heroes? or would they have been merely cast as posh boys playing loud music but with nothing to shout about. The genres of mu...

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...le genres of music have been accused of selling out during the 80's Heavy Metal and Glam Rock were fused by bands such as Motley Crue and Poison to make Glam Metal which hardcore metal fans hated as it was not deemed authentic due to its over the top and feminine feel.

In conclusion I feel authenticity in rock music has a huge part to play and although it is a very snobby culture of "we will like you until we've had enough" its still personal to every person and they have a choice to decide who fits into their perfect music world.

References

Putman, D. (1990). THE AESTHETIC RELATION OF MUSICAL PERFORMER AND AUDIENCE. British Journal of Aesthetics. 30 (4), 1-2.

Segal, V (1998). NME. London: NME. 34.

True, E. (1990). Melody Maker Spike Island review. Available: http://www.thestoneroses.co.uk/2010/05/melody-maker-spike-island-review. Last accessed 22nd Mar 2011.

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